Be the one supporting families going through separation or divorce, resolving issues around guardianship, parenting arrangements, contact and support.
Career overview
Family justice counsellors are professionally trained and accredited mediators available to assist families in making important decisions when experiencing separation or divorce. In BC, they are employed by the Ministry of Attorney General, Family Justice Services Division.
They can help parents resolve disagreements without going to court and can assist with documenting arrangements through written agreements and consent orders.
They are trained to provide:
- Emotional support and short-term counselling
- Referrals to emergency and community services
- Mediation services for family related matters such as guardianship, parental responsibilities, parenting time, contact with a child or child and spousal support
- Children in Mediation services, providing a forum for children to share their views and an opportunity for parents to hear and consider the information from their children when making decisions
- Court-ordered parenting assessments and reports regarding parenting arrangements, contact with a child, and views of the children
- Information and assistance about obtaining or changing a family related agreement or court order
- Information about the Child Support Guidelines and calculation of spousal support
career prospects
Family justice counsellors serve families across the province at family justice centres and justice access centres. Their services are provided free of charge to parents and other family members. Their annual salary ranges from approximately $55,396.19 to $72,937.86.
More information about family justice in BC is available on the B.C. government’s Family Justice webpage.
Family Justice Counsellor career opportunities can be searched through the BC Government Jobs Posting website.
personal qualifications
Skills include:
- Active listening
- Questioning and clarifying to identify underlying interests
- Emotional intelligence
- Empathy
- Strong ethics
- Strong writing and verbal abilities
Ability to:
- Remain impartial
- Be non- judgemental
- Work with a diverse population
- Manage sensitive and confidential information
- Work in a highly emotional setting
minimum requirements
- Canadian citizen or landed immigrant
- Completion of an undergraduate degree. Applicants with a degree obtained outside of Canada must have that degree evaluated through International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES).
- 80 hours of conflict resolution courses
- A minimum of at least one year of recent work or volunteer experience in a related human services field (ex. counselling, community service agencies, dispute resolution, court services, legal services)
PROGRAMS
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